Self-Assembly of Ordered Microporous Materials from Rod-Coil Block Copolymers

TLDR

Rod‑coil diblock copolymers in a selective solvent self‑assemble into hollow spherical micelles a few micrometers in diameter. Solution‑cast films form multilayer hexagonally ordered arrays of spherical holes whose size, spacing, and wall thickness are tuned by copolymer molecular weight, composition, and fullerene addition. The resulting long‑range, close‑packed micelle ordering yields highly iridescent periodic microporous materials, demonstrating the potential of hierarchical self‑assembly for engineering complex periodic and functional mesostructures.

Abstract

Rod-coil diblock copolymers in a selective solvent for the coil-like polymer self-organize into hollow spherical micelles having diameters of a few micrometers. Long-range, close-packed self-ordering of the micelles produced highly iridescent periodic microporous materials. Solution-cast micellar films consisted of multilayers of hexagonally ordered arrays of spherical holes whose diameter, periodicity, and wall thickness depended on copolymer molecular weight and composition. Addition of fullerenes into the copolymer solutions also regulated the microstructure and optical properties of the microporous films. These results demonstrate the potential of hierarchical self-assembly of macromolecular components for engineering complex two- and three-dimensional periodic and functional mesostructures.